Parallelism
by Scyphi
Summary: In an alternate reality, Cyberspace is allied with the Real World, and both have benifited greatly. But not everything is as it seems in this peaceful universe, and Matt and Inez are caught in the middle of it... please R&R!
1. The Accident

Summary: In an alternate reality, Cyberspace is allied with the Real World. Not only have they gotten rid of enemies, such as Hacker, but both sides have been benifiting from the sharing of technology and problems plauging boths sides have been resolved. But this peaceful universe isn't quite like it seems. A conflict is arising...and Matt and Inez are stuck in the middle of it...

Rated: K+, just in case.

Takes place after my other Cyberchase Fan fic, "The Time Traveler".

CYBERCHASE

PARALLELISM

1.

The Accident

_Thirty cybermeters from cybersite, Aquari-Yum..._

"Inez, watch out!" Matt yelled.

Inez quickly jerked the controls of the two-seater Cybercoop, dodging out of the way of a fast-flying piece of debris.

"Are you guys all right?" Jackie asked over the radio, alarmed.

"We're fine." Matt assured her. "Just had a close call. Hacker hasn't seen us yet."

"You sure you wanted to take that Cybercoop?" Digit voice broadcasted on the radio next. "I've got our four-seater prepped and ready to go."

"It's too big, Digit." Inez said, concentrating on driving, "If we're to stop Hacker, we need to catch him by surprise, and the four-seater Cybercoop is too easily seen."

"Are you sure you wanted drive Inez?" Jackie asked next. "I could've driven the Cybercoop."

"Jackie, I've seen you drive, and I know we have better chances of success if _I _drive." Inez answered.

"Well, Inez, I've seen you drive too, and you're no better." Jackie pointed out.

"Personally, I don't care who drives, just so long this mission works." Matt interrupted. "We just have to seal the breech in Cyberspace Hacker's generated by throwing Dr. Marbles's Space Fabricator in. It'll patch the hole, and we leave. How hard can that be?"

"I'm more worried about after that part." Digit voiced his concern, "Hacker will undoubtable be after you once he sees that his plan failed. I'd feel better if I had driven. I know what the Grim Wreaker can do and-"

"Can we stop arguing over who should've driven?" Inez interrupted. "It's too late now, anyway! Just tell me where we need to be to drop the Space Fabricator!"

"One cybermeter from the edge of the breech." Digit said. "Any closer and you'll get sucked in."

"Gotcha." Inez said, and tilted the Cybercoop to drift closer to the breech.

"Mattie, when you throw the Space Fabricator in, make sure it crosses over the breech's threshold." Digit added.

"Don't worry, I will." Matt said, patting the spherical device sitting in his lap.

Inez drove the Cybercoop along the edge of the breech, just skimming the tip of the statically mess.

"Three cybermeters." Inez read off the distance gage on the Cybercoop's dashboard, "Two cybermeters, and...one cybermeter! Throw it in Matt!"

Matt quickly unbuckled himself and stood up in his seat. Unrolling the coop's sunroof, he stood out of it, the Space Fabricator raised above his head.

"You know," Matt said as he prepared to throw, "We use this sun roof for everything but a sun roof."

He was just about to throw when Inez suddenly sped the Cybercoop forward, throwing off Matt's aiming.

"Hacker's spotted us!" she yelled in explanation as Matt sat back down in his seat with the Space Fabricator, "The Grim Wreaker is turning to face us!"

"Do you think Hacker will madder at us than usual after that incident with the time traveler?" Matt asked urgently.

A spray of weapons fire suddenly rained down on them in all directions.

"Does that answer you're question?" Inez said, very alarmed.

She was forced to veer off, away from the breech in Cyberspace.

"Give it up kiddies!" Hacker's voice now came over the radio. "You'll never beat me this time!"

"Unfortunately, we can't let that happen, Hacker!" Matt said into the radio's receiver, "If a breech of this magnitude is left unattended for too long, it'll tear Cyberspace apart! There'll be nothing left!"

"Exactly!" Hacker exclaimed. "As I see it, if I can't have Cyberspace, no one can!"

"Has he lost it?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, he's lost it!" Inez said.

She veered the Cybercoop off again as the Grim Wreaker released another spray of weapons fire as it pursued.

"Besides," Hacker went on to say, "It won't have to come to that if Cyberspace just gives control to me once it sees that's better off than getting totally destroyed!"

"Not very." Matt muttered under his breath.

"I heard that!" Hacker exclaimed. "Now, either back off, or face my wrath!"

Matt and Inez looked at each other real quick. "Wrath." they chose and said together.

The two ships played a quick game of cat and mouse, only the cat, in this case the Grim Wreaker, had the advantage with weapons.

"What's going on guys?" Jackie's voice suddenly came on the radio, "We lost contact with you for a moment!"

"Hacker's spotted us!" Inez explained quickly, "He's chasing us!"

"I knew I should've driven the Cybercoop!" Jackie and Digit both exclaimed together.

"FORGET WHO SHOULD'VE DRIVEN ALREADY!" Inez shouted, losing her cool.

"Okay, don't panic, Nezzie," Digit said, "Have you dropped the Space Fabricator in the breech yet?"

"No!" Matt said, getting to thrown to one side as Inez did an impromptu barrel roll.

"Then do it and get out of there!" Digit said, "I'll have Motherboard ready a portal you can escape in!"

"Copy that!" Matt said, then turned to Inez. "Okay, Nezzie, you'll have to get us back at the breech again!"

"Don't, call, me, NEZZIE!" Inez roared, punctuating each word by suddenly turning the Cybercoop in various directions, "It's not like I'll be able to stop at the exact distance either!"

"It'll have to be close enough!" Matt said, poking his head out the sun roof again, "Just don't get too close!"

Inez turned the coop towards the swirling mass of chaotic static, zooming straight for it at full speed, with the Grim Wreaker nipping at their heels. Matt watched as the coop rapidly got closer and closer to the breech's threshold, hoping Inez could turn away fast enough. Finally they reached what seemed to be an appropriate distance to Matt, and he geared up to throw the Space Fabricator.

Then, Hacker's aim finally proved true. A weapon's blast walloped the Cybercoop's side making it suddenly veer off course and hurtle across the cyberbreech's threshold. Instantly, Matt felt an invisible grip grab him at the ship from all angles, threatening to pull him and the ship apart into pieces.

For a moment, Matt hesitated, too afraid to react, but then realized their only chance of surviving now was to throw the Space fabricator now. They were definitely close enough. The intense pulling the breech was inflicting on Matt made him struggle, but he finally he managed to get the Space Fabricator flying free as the coop was getting dragged to the intense and strong center of the breech.

Suddenly, a flood of debris clouded Matt's vision, but he saw out of the corner of his eye the Space Fabricator start to glow. Just when Matt thought it was too late, an echoing bang rang, and a shockwave jolted the Cybercoop once again, then everything was dark.

"Guys, what's happening? Please say something!" Jackie's voice was still being broadcasted.

But all that answered was static...


	2. Adrift

Just a bunch of techno-mumbo-jumbo really, but it's there to give you an idea what happened.

Random thought, but i realized that Matt's very lucky to not had gotten knocked out into Cyberspace when they got caught in that breech. Remember, he was standing out the sunroof at the time, so the odds of him getting thrown out that were ver, very, high. Of course that didn't happen here, but when you think about it, the physics should be very against that.

Anyway, now that I've pointed that random bit of info, enjoy the chapter. :P

2.

Adrift

_Somewhere in Cyberspace..._

The two-seater cybercoop drifted aimlessly through Cyberspace. It's systems had burned out, it's engine was destroyed, yet the overall ship remained intact. But it had suffered severe damage. The tail fin in the rear looked as if it had nearly gotten twisted off. The thruster ports were charred and blackened, evidence of an overload.

It's hull was dented and scratched, and both of it's headlights had been smashed. The nose of the craft looked like the tip of it's right side had been struck by a fast moving object. The glass dome that covered the craft's cockpit had miraculously not shattered, but had cracked so many times that it was near impossible to see through. The ship was now radioactive, emitting a radiation not unlike the radiation Magnetite emitted. But since the occupants of the ship were not native to Cyberspace, they were immune to the radioactive energy.

The only two occupants in the craft were alive, but both had been knocked unconscious. Inez was draped over the steering wheel, still strapped into her seat, but Matt, having been out of his seat at the time of the incident, was lying in a very awkward position against one side of the cockpit.

Since both were unconscious and the ship completely disabled, they had no idea that the ship was drifting towards a very large hunk of cyberjunk, and within minutes, it would smash into the debris and be destroyed.

And the cybercoop nearly did get destroyed, but suddenly a long metal claw reached out and grabbed the ruined ship, stopping it's free fall. There was a pause, then the claw reoriented itself and began to pull back into a much, much, larger ship.

It stopped just within the ship. Sensor beams swept over the cybercoop, scanning it, and found that despite the severe damage, the crew of the cybercoop was alive. It also detected the radiation the craft's hull was emitting.

When the scan was complete, the claw pulled the cybercoop deeper into the bigger ship, and arrived in a different compartment. A kind of gas was vented into the room that decontaminated the coop and removed the radioactive elements on it's hull. The gas was then sucked up into vents, and the ship was scanned again, to make sure the gas had done it's job.

Finding the ship clean, the claw finally pulled the cybercoop into it's last destination, a large hanger bay of sorts, with other ships like it sharing the same room. The claw set the coop down softly on the floor of that hanger, then retracted itself into the ceiling, gone from sight.

Jackie and Digit were waiting for the ship's arrival, but they weren't dressed as they usually were. They both wore black uniforms, identical except for size and shape for each wearer. Jackie also wore her hair in a long ponytail instead of her usual tight bun. The ponytail was held in place by a black hair band to match her uniform. Likewise, Digit wore a black ball cap to match his uniform, and wore it with the bill facing forward instead of backwards as he usually wore it.

When they saw the cybercoop arrive, they said nothing, and instead seemed to communicate by eyesight. They looked at the little ship, then at one another, then at an identical two-seater cybercoop, completely intact, and parked near the severely damaged one.

Having done this, they both silently walked over to the damaged cybercoop. Jackie stood on one side of it, while Digit stood on the other side. Already suspecting the extent of the ship's damage, Jackie automatically opened a small compartment in the coop's hull and through it, tried to manually open the glass dome covering the cockpit. But it was jammed.

Jackie then nodded to Digit, who had been watching. Converting his beak into a special drill, Digit ran it along the edge of the glass dome were it sealed into the ship itself. Jackie then slipped her gloved fingers under the edge of the glass dome and lifted from her side while Digit did the same on his side.

Setting the ruined dome aside, they both peered into the ship's cockpit, and saw it's only two occupants, Matt and Inez, still in their same positions. This apparently surprised Jackie and Digit for they both looked at one another with expressions of mixed shock and alarm. Numbly, and still silently, they glanced across the room to where a small crowd of mixed people stood under a large screen.

On the screen was a live news interview being broadcasted across Cyberspace at that moment. The reporter doing the interviewing was none other than Erica Ram, and there was nothing unusual about that. It was who was being interviewed that alarmed them.

Inez Garcia.

* * *

In case you didn't catch it, Inez being on the news is significant because it's a _live _report. That means she's in two places at once. Or is she?... ;) 


	3. Revelations

3.

Revelations

_Onboard the _Cyantis _CSRW-2..._

Matt's head hurt. Really hurt. The throbbing pain in his skull was making it hard for him to concentrate. He was seeing to different things, and wasn't sure which was which, what was memory, what was imagination, or what was real.

"How's he doing?"

"Alive, but very shaken up. He was very lucky."

"What about Inez?"

Matt tried to focus on what he was seeing now. A light, and three people, two of which were Jackie and Digit. But he was sure this wasn't the real thing. It was true it had Jackie and Digit, but they were both different somehow, not the same, unlike the Jackie and Digit he knew. He didn't even recognize the third person.

Suddenly his view changed, and now he was back in the cybercoop, with the breech still swirling around them. Matt's mind was in more favor of this view, for it was closer to the last thing he remembered seeing. The breech, Inez driving the coop, him standing out the sunroof, the Grim Wreaker hanging on the horizon, probably waiting to see what would happen.

Matt saw Inez open her mouth to say something, but it was cut off by a loud echoing bang from behind the cybercoop. Wait, didn't that already happen?

Matt didn't get to find out. His view changed again, but this time not as drastically. He was still in the cybercoop, but now he was stretched out on a seat. The coop was in poor condition, and was very damaged. Inez was slumped over the steering wheel, probably unconscious. It was dark, and through the still open sunroof, Matt could see the empty depths of Cyberspace.

On the dented dashboard of the coop was a flickering computer screen, warning about an imminent battery failure, before it faded out and didn't come back. Matt assumed that the batteries it was taking about had indeed failed.

"He's coming around."

"Matt? Can you hear me?"

"He may not be able to. His mind is in a kind of shock. It's coming out of it though."

What? Matt thought. His view had changed again, back to the blinding light and the three people, and even though he was certain that what he was seeing wasn't real, he was taking an interest in the conversation, for it was only this view were he actually heard anybody speak anything. He wanted to ask what the third person, who he assumed was a doctor of sorts, meant by "in shock"

But then Matt's view changed again, to a very brief glimpse of a large metal claw descending upon the cybercoop. Before Matt had really taken it in, however, it jumped back to the blinding light and three people.

"Try talking to him now."

"Matt, can you hear me?"

"There, he's saying something. I can't make it out though."

"Matt, wake up. It's me, Jackie."

Matt suddenly realized with a start, that of alt the things he had seen, the light and the three people were the only ones he had seen the most. He began wondering that, despite his instincts, this really was real. He tried to concentrate on it, but it slipped away.

Now he was in Control Central, and was instantly struck with deja vu. This, he knew, was a memory. It was Motherboard's briefing about the cyberbreech Hacker had formed, and what they were to do to stop it. But things were very off. The lighting was too dim, Inez wasn't present, and Motherboards screen was in static, and instead of her, it was Dr. Marbles that was doing the talking.

"I've scanned him over several times, and while he seems to be mostly uninjured physically, I'm worried if he's injured mentally." he was saying.

"Will he recover?" Jackie asked. She was dressed in a black uniform and wore a ponytail.

"Only time will tell." Marbles answered.

Matt was puzzled. This wasn't the right conversation. True, they had discussed whether or not Hacker was in his right mind now, and if he had been driven insane with Motherboard's all-but curing of her computer virus, but not in these terms.

"Mattie, please answer us! Say something we can understand!" Digit was now saying to Matt. He, too, wore a black uniform.

"I do hope he's alright. He might be able to give us some answers." Jackie said to Marbles.

What answers? Matt thought.

"There, he said something!" Digit suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Matt.

"What did he say?" Jackie asked.

"Er, he said 'what answers.'" Digit answered.

"He's heard us talking! C'mon, Matt, wake up!" Jackie said.

Suddenly, Matt's senses went wild. Despite his eyes telling him that he was standing, his other senses told him he was in fact lying down on a soft cot. The light suddenly intensified, blinding out everything else Matt could see, before fading back to tolerable levels, and Matt now saw the familiar three people and the bright light again, and it stayed that way.

Realizing that he was really here, Matt tried to sit up, but Jackie held him down.

"Don't get up just yet, Matt, you've apparently been through a lot."

Apparently? Matt thought, but didn't ask about it. "What happened?" he asked instead.

Jackie and Digit looked at on another from other sides of the cot Matt lay on.

"We were hoping you could tell us." Digit answered.

Matt rubbed his aching head, trying to organize his thoughts together. "There was a cyberbreech, me an Inez were going to seal it..." he began.

"Cyberbreech? Where?" Jackie asked, alarmed.

Puzzled, Matt answered, "Near Aquari-Yum."

"Matt, we're at Aquari-Yum right now." Digit explained. "There's no cyberbreech here."

"Then Dr. Marbles's Space Fabricator must have worked." Matt stated, "Where am I?" he asked, looked around, "Where's Inez?"

"Inez is in the other room, asleep. She's fine." Jackie explained. "As for where you are, can't you tell?"

"No..." Matt said cautiously.

"You're on the _Cyantis._" Digit stated. "Dr. Smith here was just treating you."

He motioned with one wing to the doctor, standing at the end of the cot, staying out of the conversation.

Matt studied the man. "Do we know him?" he asked.

"Of course we do, we met him a year ago." Jackie explained, worried. "He's from the Real World."

"He's _what?_" Matt asked, shocked.

"Don't you remember?"

"No." Matt admitted, worried for himself. "But you said I'm on Cyantis." he continued. "I thought that cybersite was nothing but ruins."

"Not the cybersite Cyantis, the ship _Cyantis._" Digit corrected. "We named it after that site. The CSRW-2, remember?"

"CS...what?" Matt asked, feeling very lost right now.

Jackie and Digit looked at one another, then at the doctor, looking for an explanation.

"Matt," the doctor said, "What's the last mission you remember going on before this one you speak of with the cyberbreech?"

"We got a visitor from the future, cured Motherboard's virus with the Encryptor chip." Matt said. He looked at their stunned expression. "Jackie, Digit, you guys were there, don't _you_ remember?"

Jackie gulped before answering. "Matt, that's never happened." she said. "There is no Encryptor chip in existence anywhere in Cyberspace..."


	4. Differences

4.

Differences

Inez sat on her cot, flipping through a book. A very puzzled expression was on her face. Her concentration was broken when there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Jackie." came the answer.

"Come on in, Jax." Inez said, returning to her book.

Jackie walked in, still wearing the black uniform. "Just came to tell you that the doctors have a possible diagnostic for your memory loss." she said. "Something called _psychogenic amnesia_.Or was it _retrograde amnesia_? They talked about both."

Inez shook her head, continuing to flip through her book. "No, Jax, it's got to be something more than just memory loss. I can recall over two years worth of events, that according to these history books, never happened. In their place is two years worth of events that I would have never even _dreamed_ of happening. Sure, some things are the same, and yet, at the same time, they _aren't_ the same."

Jackie sat down on the cot next to Inez. "How so?" she asked.

"Well, the first few months after you, me, and Matt were first brought into Cyberspace match up perfectly. It's _after _that where it just doesn't match up." Inez said. "First, Dr. Archimedes never built a replacement Encryptor chip. As a result, there is no chase for the Encryptor chip between us and Hacker, and instead, it's just the occasional stop Hacker's latest scheme for the next year and a half."

Inez turned the page. "_Then,_ the lost cybersite of the Founders of Cyberspace, Cyantis, is found six months earlier that I remember, and it's discovery was purely accidental." she continued. "That's _not_ how I remember finding it."

"Then?" Jackie prompted after Inez fell silent.

"Then that's as far as I've gotten." Inez answered. "I still have about another six months to go. But what's the point? I _know _none of it will match up now, and this ship-" she held out her hands to indicate the room around her, "-the _Cyantis, _is proof of that."

Inez turned back to her book. Jackie watched her read for several moments.

"Then you don't know about the alliance yet, do you?" Jackie asked.

Inez looked up at her. "What alliance?" she asked, curious.

"Flip ahead a few months." Jackie said, taking the book from Inez and flipping ahead a few pages before handing it back. "Then you'll find out."

She pointed to where the relevant information began. Inez began reading. After a few moments, her eyes widened. She looked at Jackie.

"I definitely don't remember something this big." she said, shocked.

"I know, talking with Matt gave me that impression." Jackie admitted.

"Does he know about this?"

"Not yet, I wanted to make sure you knew first."

"You better tell him then."

"I will, I just wanted to hold off for a little while. He's still pretty shaken up as is. Telling him this won't help."

"Jax, at this point, it isn't going to matter."

"I know."

Inez grinned supportively, then turned back to her book, reading intently about a past she never knew.

Jackie got up to leave hesitantly, but then stopped and turned back. "I'm not suppose to show you this." she said to Inez, heading for a nearby TV screen, "But there's something else you really must know."

She turned on the TV, and showed something that shocked Inez even more...

* * *

In another room, Matt sat on his cot, playing with his yo-yo, thinking intently. But things just weren't adding up, and he was only succeeding in giving himself a headache. All he knew was that he could remember events that his own friends claimed never happened, and started talking about events he had never heard of in their place.

There was only one question that summed it all up best. How?

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in." Matt called.

The door opened, and Digit entered. A Digit, Matt told himself, that's _like_ the Digit he knows, but at the same time, wasn't.

"Can I talk with you, Mattie?" he asked politely, sitting down next to Matt.

"If you think you can help me figure out this situation." Matt said, still twirling his yo-yo.

Digit sighed. "Unfortunately, I can't." he said. "I'm as just in the dark as you are about this. But, there is something you should know anyway."

Digit waited for a moment. "I'm listening." Matt said.

"Mattie, remember us telling you about the Encryptor chip?" Digit began.

"Yeah, you said that there isn't one in existence." Matt said. "Which is impossible, we've found _two_ already."

"That's just it, Mattie, we haven't." Digit said. "Inez has been doing research, and she's realized that what you and her remember just doesn't match up with actual history."

"I think that was already determined." Matt pointed out sarcastically.

"True, but it's an important fact." Digit pressed. "For some reason, you two are remember events of a course of history, that, to everyone else that I know, never could've happened. Some of the pivotal events that are different, is that Archimedes's version of the Encryptor chip was never built, that things where found too early in comparison to your guys memory, or not found at all."

"Right." Matt confirmed.

"Well, that happens to only be the tip of the iceberg." Digit explained. "Jax and Inez talked it over, and they discovered that there's something big that you need to know about. So big, me and Jax drew straws to figure out who would tell you."

"So what is this 'big event?'" Matt asked.

"Well, we'll start off small." Digit said. "Hacker's been caught and locked up."

"Yet another difference." Matt noted. "Although, judging from what I've seen of this ship we're on," he tapped a nearby bulkhead. "It shouldn't come as a surprise. I'm assuming you caught him after you cured Motherboard, right? That has happened, right?"

"Yeah, it has." Digit admitted. "But only after Hacker was caught and locked up. Then we kind of 'forced', the antidote to the virus out of him."

"So there never has been a need for an Encryptor chip, has there?" Matt asked. "Okay, but how did you catch Hacker?"

Digit hesitated. "This is going to come as a shock, Mattie." he told him.

"What hasn't?" Matt asked rhetorically.

Digit hesitated again. "Matt, Cyberspace only beat Hacker because of the alliance with us and the Real World."

The bluntness of the statement caused Matt to take a few moments to realize what that meant. "You mean that the Real World actually _knows _about Cyberspace?" he asked, bewildered.

"For about five months now." Digit said. "It happened by accident. A Real World scientist accidently triggered the formation of a portal, and temporarily got sucked into Cyberspace. Through him, word of Cyberspace spread to the rest of the Real World. Delegations were made, trade of technologies began, and through both of those, peace has been found in both worlds. Problems have also been resolved in both worlds too. For us, it was Hacker's campaign of chaos. For the Real World, it was things like global warming, ozone holes, and pollution."

Matt was dumbfounded, unable to speak, so Digit continued.

"Things have actually come together quite quickly." Digit said. "The Cyberspace/Real World Alliance probably wouldn't have formed so rapidly had Hacker not tried to wreak havoc in both worlds. We were kind of forced to unite in order to save ourselves from him. But like I said, lots of good has come out of it. In fact, the construction of the _Alliance_ CSRW-1 and the _Cyantis _CSRW-2 are among those good things, massive, multi-purpose ships built by both Cyberspace and the Real World. The _Independence _CSRW-3 is being built as we speak."

"So do people from both worlds come and visit each other?" Matt asked.

"Oh yeah, in fact, some have gone so far as moving into each other's worlds." Digit assured him. "In fact, both Cyber citizen and Earthlings went on the mission to Mars."

"Wait, Earth got to Mars?" Matt asked.

"Twice." Digit said, like it was yesterday's news. "Which is consequently how many times Hacker's escaped and for how many weeks he was on the run before he got caught again both times."

"Whoa." Matt said, amazed, but he was shaking his head. "But if all of this really did happen, how come me and Inez remember something totally different?"

"I wish I knew, Mattie." Digit admitted, "But I'm not done yet either. Turns out that we might have a clue that might eventually tell us that answer."

"What is it?" Matt asked.

"Well, Matt, not only are you right here in this room on the _Cyantis, _you're also an officer-in-training onboard the _Alliance_ which is escorting tourists from the Real World to Control Central, right now, as we speak." Digit answered. "In short, you're in two places at once, and we have no idea how."


	5. Discussions

5.

Discussions

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Inez asked Jackie, watching her own self chatting animatedly with a news host on the television.

"It was agreed that if there are two of you, then it was possible that one of you were not who you seemed to be, possible an enemy." Jackie explained. "I didn't like to think about it that way, but, even you couldn't deny the logic in that. If you were an enemy, we didn't want you thinking that we knew that until we could act appropriately."

"So why are you showing me this now?" Inez asked, waving one hand at the TV screen, it's playback currently paused.

"Because I'm convinced that you are a friend, who knows juts as little about this situation as we do." Jackie explained. "And as a friend, you deserved to know, even if I am breaking orders. Besides, maybe you can help figure out what exactly _has _happened."

"True." Inez said, "But I'm drawing up a blank right now." she started to pace. Jackie noticed.

"I thought pacing was _my_ bit." she complained.

Inez grinned. "At least some things are still the same." she noted.

Jackie stood up. "Well, I have work to do." she said, and started to leave.

"What kind of work?" Inez asked suddenly. "You keep referring to orders, you're not in some kind of military, are you?"

Jackie sighed, "Technically, no." she said, sitting back down to explain. "I'm more of a tour guide, or assistant for visitors from the Real World. I interact with them, answer their questions, make sure they're doing well, and all that while they stay on the _Cyantis._ Currently, I'm off duty while our current load of guests visit Aquari-Yum, but their going to be coming back onboard here soon, if not already."

"So if you not in the military, why do you act like it?" Inez asked.

"Because even thought the CSRW class of ships are generally used for peaceful purposes, like for science and passenger escorts and all that jazz, it's still a military ship." Jackie explained. "Even though I'm technically a civilian, just serving on the _Cyantis _requires me to be a militant occasionally. I'm no good at it though, and me telling you something I was ordered not to is evidence of that. It's softened though by the fact that Digit agreed to it too."

"So what exactly are 'we' all doing in Cyberspace?" Inez asked, curious. "Like, what's my own double doing?"

"Well, you're a kind of ambassador for both the Real World and Cyberspace." Jackie explained. "You're the only one who's not serving anywhere on a ship or anything. Matt and Digit are the ones who are in the CSRW Military. Matt's an officer-in-training over on _Alliance _and Digit's a pilot here on _Cyantis._"

"And that's what we're all doing?" Inez asked.

"Yeah, that's it." Jackie confirmed, standing up. "Well, anyway, I better be getting back to what I do best. Bye."

"Bye." Inez answered as Jackie left, and was left alone to contemplate what she was just told.

* * *

"So, what do you make of all of this, Matt?" Inez asked, as they wandered down the hall on _Cyantis_. Digit had gotten them permission to roam the ship just so long as they stayed out of secure places. So they got together to study the ship in detail and to discuss the situation they were caught up in.

"It's weird." Matt said in answer to Inez's question, munching on a brownie they had picked up in the cafiteria. "Somewhere out there is another me who's living a completely different life from my own, in a world like I've never seen."

"I know what you mean by that." Inez admitted. "What's even weirder is that the me here is an ambassador for both Cyberspace and the Real World. And that's something I could never do. I was never really any good and delegating with complete strangers like that."

Matt nodded in agreement. "I've read the file on him, er, me, and he's done stuff I would never think about doing, the biggest is joining any kind of military. I just can't picture myself doing that."

"Yeah, it's like we're out of place from where we need to be." Inez said. "Well, at least Jackie and Digit both have careers that suit them."

"True." Matt admitted. "But there's still the whole matter of this situation we're stuck in." he paused looking for the right words. "It's like we're stuck in a whole other universe. Well, at least they make good brownies." he finished off the last of his treat.

Inez froze. "Say that again?" she asked slowly.

"What? The brownies?" Matt asked, puzzled.

"No, before that!"

"Being stuck in a whole different universe?"

"Yes!" Inez exclaimed. "That's it! Why didn't I think of that sooner?"

"What?" Matt asked, still puzzled.

Inez gave him a look. "Just about how many science fiction shows do you watch at home, Matt?"

"Um, about twelve." Matt said. "Why?"

"Has any of talked about something called alternate realities?"

Matt eyes widened, suddenly understanding. "You don't think...?" he began.

"That's exactly what I think." Inez said. "We're in what could be called a parallel universe; a universe _like_ our own, but is different at the same time..."


	6. Mirror Reflections

6.

Mirror Reflections

"A parallel universe?" Digit asked, looking awestruck.

"Or better known as an alternate reality." Inez explained.

They were in a small meeting room that the Jackie of this universe had reserved for them to talk. And talking they were, but the parallel Jackie and Digit were slow to catch on.

"Explain it one more time, Inez." Jackie requested.

"Okay, all an alternate reality is two universes existing side by side of each other, and they are similar in comparison, but not exactly the same." Inez explained one more time. "They have certain points in which they veer off from each other. That means that one universe could have everything going good, like ours, an another could have everything go bad."

"A good example of that would be a universe were the Matt from the future never went back in time and the timeline remained unaltered." Matt provided.

"Yes, but seeing that the people in this universe that we're currently in hasn't had any visitors from the future, that wouldn't be a very good example for them." Inez pointed out.

Matt sighed, slightly frustrated at that fact.

"I still don't get it." Digit admitted after a moment of thinking all through.

"Okay, look at it this way, Didge." Matt said, "think of the universe me and Inez belong in as a mirror reflection of our own. Like looking yourself in a mirror, things _look_ the same, but there are slight, but noticeable, differences."

"I get it." Jackie announced, "Everything is backwards in your universe in comparison to our universe."

"Okay, that wasn't exactly how I was thinking it, but if it works to help you guys understand..." Matt said, annoyed.

"So how many universes are there again?" Digit asked.

"Well, we're only worrying about our two." Inez explained. "Because that's the only two that count."

"Okay, assuming that we're right about this." Jackie said. "How are we going to fix things?"

Matt and Inez looked at each other. "We're not sure." Inez admitted. "But there has to be a way."

Jackie nodded in agreement. "We'll have to discuss it with our superiors first." she said, referring to herself and Digit. "They might have other opinions. But despite all that, we're going to help you get back to wherever you belong."

They got up to leave the room, telling Matt and Inez that they better wait here. So they did, in complete silence. The wait was very long, and both of them wanted to spend that time discussing things, but didn't. There really wasn't much to say.

Finally, a beep was admitted from a small control panel in the middle of the table. After hesitating a moment, Inez pressed it, and Jackie's face appeared on a screen set into the far wall.

"We've got a go." she explained from the screen. "But the captain wants to see you first. Come on up to the bridge."

The message then ended. Matt and Inez looked at each other, silently passing their thoughts, then left the room. Following the directions on the signs posted every few feet in the metallic hallways, they finally reach a set of large doors that popped open as they approached it.

The bridge was by far the biggest room Matt had seen on the _Cyantis_. With a high arching ceiling, the room was just barely lit enough to see the room, and gave the room a eerie alien like feeling. The fact that the light was tinged with blue did not help that impression. On the far wall was a large screen that showed Cyberspace zipping by at high speeds, and the screen worked a bit like a window.

A long control panel stretched in front of that screen, and was were Digit and one other cyborg sat. Remembering that Digit was a pilot in this universe, Matt presumed that the control panel was the _Cyantis's_ steering mechanism.

Behind the control panel sat a chair, placed in the exact middle of the room. This was where the captain sat. On either side of that chair was more rows of control panels and screens, with a mixture of cyborgs and humans sitting at them and operating them.

Jackie was standing nearby the doors, waiting for them. "Sorry it took so long, but we had to wait for Motherboard's okay. She says hi, by the way."

But Matt and Inez were staring at the figure sitting in the center seat.

"_Wicked?_" they both exclaimed at the same time.

Sure enough, it was the Wicked Witch that sat in the captain's chair. But like everyone else on the _Cyantis,_ she wore a black uniform composed of pants and a shirt. No purple dress, no purple hat, no wand, and her red hair was tied into a strict-looking bun. Not the Wicked Matt and Inez knew.

This Wicked looked at her visitors, eyeing them oddly for their outburst. "Is there a problem?" she asked politely.

Jackie looked at them inquiringly, as well.

"Nothing." Inez quickly covered, elbowing Matt to keep him from saying something he'd probably regret. "It's just that in our universe Wicked is our enemy. But we forgot that things aren't the same in this universe."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, Wicked used to be our enemy too, but she switched sides after Hacker betrayed her for his own interests a few years back." Jackie explained. "Anyway, _Captain _Wicked, this is Mirror Matt and Mirror Inez."

"'Mirror?'" Inez questioned.

"It's what we've been calling you two, to avoid confusion." Wicked explained sternly, taking over the conversation. "It's in spirt of Mirror Matt's comparison to the situation."

Matt rubbed the back of his head. "Glad I could help." he said nervously.

"So, I have a question for you two." Mirror Wicked said. "How do you plan to get back to your universe?"

"Well, seeing that we got here by a closing cyberbreech, that would be the best place to start." Inez said.

"Then get to it." Mirror Wicked answered.


	7. Possibilities

7.

Possibilities

"We could try zipping you guys around a cybersite at lightspeeds for a little while." Mirror Jackie suggested. "Doesn't that have something to do with it?"

"Jackie, that was Jarcimian's Theory for Time Travel, and it was tested a long time ago and it didn't work." Mirror Digit pointed out. "Completely unrelated."

Matt tapped the control panel they were gathered around on the bridge. "I still think that creating another cyberbreech is our best bet." he said. "That was how we got here."

"Yes, but we were nearly killed in the process." Inez stated. "Who's to say we don't get killed in transit this time around?"

"Not to mention that creating cyberbreeches is dangerous in itself." Mirror Jackie added. "Harmful to the environment, you know."

"Well, it's not like we've got any other ideas." Matt grumbled. "We may have no choice in the matter."

"We could try adding a portal to the mix." Inez suggested. "Future Matt used one to time travel. Who's to say we can't use one to jump from one alternate reality to another?"

"True, but how?" Matt asked. "And how do we make sure we end up in the right reality? You said yourself there could be millions of them."

"Maybe Dr. Marbles could help." Inez thought aloud. "He knows quite a bit about portals."

"We've already tried contacting him." Mirror Jackie said. "He's needed at a peace delegation between two of Earth's countries. We're on our own until that's over."

Inez thought for a moment. "What happens when you go through a portal pointing in the direction of a cyberbreech?" she asked.

"Absolutely nothing." Mirror Digit answered. "Even I know that."

"There must be some kind of why to use a portal in this." Inez said, flopping back in her chair.

"I think you were on to something, though, Nezzie." Matt said, "Obviously, if there is a way to use a portal, we're going to have to subject it to conditions that a portal's not normally exposed to."

"Okay, so let's think." Mirror Jackie said, getting up to pace. "What did Future Matt do to time travel in your guy's universe?"

"He opened a portal, then sent some Kryoxide through it." Inez explained. "Dr. Marbles explained that it slowed travel to the point that one actually traveled backwards through time."

"Any way we can apply that to this?" Mirror Jackie asked, gesturing to the computer screen where they had been running simulations.

"Not with Kryoxide." Matt explained. "That would only send us back in time about a year or two, not at all the effect we want." he thought for a moment longer. "Maybe we use that stuff that Dr. Marbles talked about being the exact opposite of Kryoxide? What was it called, Li...ly..."

"Lynitrogen." Inez answered automatically.

"Lynitrogen?" Mirror Digit repeated. "That's extremely dangerous stuff."

"Exactly why we didn't use it for that." Inez went on to explain. "The risk of it exploding was just too much."

Mirror Jackie stopped pacing to stare at the computer screen, where a picture of a cyberbreech was being portrayed. "You said that you guys were at the cyberbreech that brought you here to seal it off, to prevent it from expanding." she said. "How?"

"We used a Space Fabricator." Matt explained. "We dropped it in and it sealed the event horizon of the breech. The problem we had was that we got caught in the event horizon before the Fabricator was released and activated."

"So you were actually _in_ the breech when you activated the Fabricator." Mirror Jackie summarized. "That explains why you guys came out here so beat up. Part of it was the breech's extreme gravimetric pull, while most of it was the Fabricator sealing the breech."

"Why, how does the Fabricator work?" Inez asked.

"It releases a kind of energy in large bursts that will produce a kind of interspacial "patch" over the breech, or whatever it's used on. Anything caught in that burst of energy generally gets damaged a great deal, and you guys were right in that burst's path." Mirror Jackie explained. "In fact, that was what drew the _Cyantis_ over to your location. We detected the burst of energy, uncommonly found in nature in such large amounts, and we went to investigate."

"Okay, but where does that get us?" Matt asked.

"Pretty far." Mirror Digit piped up, who had been quietly thinking throughout the latter part of the conversation. "We can use a Space Fabricator on a portal and get the same effect."

"On a _portal_?" Matt asked, bewildered.

"Sure." Mirror Digit said. "Think about it. When a portal connects from Cyberspace to the Real World, the portal is essentially a cyberbreech. The difference is that it's much smaller, more stable, and lacks the need to tear up anything in it's path. I'm willing to bet that if we used a low-level Space Fabricator on a portal, we can force it to jump to another reality."

"But which one?" Inez asked. "And will it lead to the Real World, or will it stay in Cyberspace?"

"I don't particularly care _where_ we end up, just so long we're alive and in the right universe." Matt said. "Too bad we can't test our theory."

But then Mirror Jackie stopped pacing, brightening. "But we can!" she said, and began typing commands into the console they were gathered around.

"What are you doing, creating a simulation?" Mirror Digit asked.

"Nope, even better!" Mirror Jackie answered, then took a step back so the others could see. "_Viola_!"

The screen now showed a computer generated image of the immediate area around the _Cynatis _and opening at a safe distance from the ship was a Real World bond portal.

"You can create portals with this ship too?" Matt asked, amazed.

"Yep." Mirror Jackie answered, typing commands into the console again. "Can launch Space Fabricators too."

A dot suddenly appeared on the image and moved rapidly from the _Cyantis_ to the portal. There was a flash of light, then all that remained was a slightly unstable version of the portal.

"Did it work?" Matt asked.

"There's a way to find out." Mirror Jackie answered, typing in one final code. Another dot was released from the _Cyantis_ and entered the portal. Then the screen suddenly erupted into static.

"What happened?" Inez asked.

"I sent a probe into the portal." Jackie explained. "Should be getting a picture soon..."

Sure enough, the picture reformed to show a brilliant view of Cyberspace. The immediate area was empty.

"Well, it worked. It jumped realities." Mirror Jackie confirmed.

"But to which one?" Inez asked. "How can we confirm that?"

"Well, the probe is getting a transmission, maybe that can tells us." Mirror Jackie stated.

She pressed a few buttons, then the transmission began broadcasting.

"...confirmed breech is closed. Guys? Please respond! It's Jackie! Just say anything to tell me you're alright and that Hacker didn't get you guys! Please! Where are they..."

Matt let out a whoop of joy, attracting the attention of others in the room. "It worked, we have a way back!" he yelled gleefully.

Inez listened to the transmission as it continued to play. "Can we tell them we're alright?" she asked Mirror Jackie.

Mirror Jackie shook her head. "The probe can receive transmissions, not send, and besides, when the portal closes any minute now, the transmission will get cut off anyhow."

Sure enough, the screen soon erupted into static, returning to it's original display. Matt opened his mouth to ask when they could expect to go home, but then the voice of an officer in the room cut him off.

"Receiving a transmission from the _Alliance!_" he announced. "Emergency transmission!"

Mirror Wicked broke off the conversation she was having with another officer. "Emergency? What about?" she asked aloud, then ordered, "On screen!"

The forward screen's display was replaced with Mirror Matt's face, from the _Alliance._ Matt made a frown at how his mirror companion looked, but made no remark.

"Matt." Mirror Wicked said, sounding surprised, like she didn't expect to see Mirror Matt on the screen. "Report, what has..."

But Mirror Matt cut her off.

"We're under attack!" he said. "Repeat, the _Alliance_ is under attack!"


	8. Battle Stations!

8.

Battle Stations!

"We're under attack! Repeat, the _Alliance_ is under attack!"

Mirror Wicked wasted no time. "Battle stations! " she ordered her crew, "Go to full alert!"

People began to rush around the room as the lighting in the room turned a deep red. Mirror Jackie gently escorted Matt and Inez out of the way before she and Mirror Digit rushed to their appropriate places.

Mirror Wicked her attention back to Mirror Matt. "Report, Matt! What's happening?"

"We're under heavy fire, _Alliance_ is taken damage, a great deal! Captain is injured, first officer is in command, and I'm..."

"Who's attacking you?" Mirror Wicked interrupted.

"Earth forces!" Mirror Matt answered. "A whole fleet of them! They must have hijacked a portal to get it all here!"

Matt and Inez were stunned, and Matt turned to Mirror Jackie, who was standing nearby for an explanation, but got none. She, too, looked stunned, but oddly enough, not surprised.

"Set an intercept course!" Mirror Wicked ordered after a moment's pause. "Matt, we're on the way to help!"

"We won't get there soon enough!" Mirror Digit interrupted. "Even at top speed, it'll be well over an hour before we get there!"

"Long range scans indicate that _Alliance_ is indeed taking heavy damage!" another cyborg shouted out. "It won't withstand it much longer!"

"How much time until the _Alliance_ is disabled?" Mirror Wicked asked, turning in the direction of the cyborg.

"ETA of five minutes, maybe less." the cyborg reported. "And another five minutes to that and the _Alliance_ will be destroyed."

"Destroyed?" Mirror Wicked repeated, the color draining from her face. Like Mirror Jackie, she looked stunned, but not surprised.

"If the enemy's rate of fire continues to hold up like it is now, then yes." the cyborg answered.

The screen with Mirror Matt's face on it began to flicker. He began to repeat his plead for help.

"Any other ships within range of the _Alliance_?" Mirror Wicked asked the cyborg next.

"None that could help the _Alliance_ in anyway." the cyborg answered. "Control Central is nearby, though, maybe Motherboard can a produce a portal for them to escape in."

"Do it." Mirror Wicked ordered, then turned back to the forward screen. "Matt, what's _Alliance's_ current attack procedures?"

"Beta and Alpha." Mirror Matt answered. "First Mate is contemplating using Delta as well."

"Tell him to keep doing that, and to begin a retreating course for Control Central." Mirror Wicked instructed. "We're contacting Motherboard right now, hopefully she can assist. In the meantime, hold out for as long as possible, help is on the way!"

Mirror Matt nodded, then vanished from sight for a moment. In the time he was gone the transmission continued to degrade. He was promptly back.

"Cannot comply!" he said. "Engines are dead! Enemy went for them first!"

Mirror Wicked opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but no words came out. She had run out of suggestions.

Mirror Matt seemed to realize this, for he started to panic. "Help!" he cried, "This is the _Allia_...we're under att...please help! Repeat, this...attack...help...Rep...ea...he..._Al_..."

Mirror Matt and his voice vanished under a storm of static that suddenly erupted onto the screen.

Mirror Wicked spun around in her chair. "What happened?" she demanded.

"We lost the transmission." Mirror Jackie reported.

"According to scans, _Alliance _is no longer in that quadrant!" the cyborg suddenly announced.

Mirror Wicked turned to face him. "Destroyed?" she asked calmly.

The cyborg shook his head glumly. "We're too far away to tell." he said, clearly upset.

Mirror Wicked slouched into her seat, looking defeated. A long silence fell. Matt studied everyone's faces. Except for his own and Inez's, they were all shocked, but it was clear that they weren't surprised. Matt suddenly was suspicious.

"Jackie." he said softly. "There's something you haven't told us yet, isn't there?"

Slowly, Mirror Jackie nodded. "There is." she admitted. "And it's time to reveal everything to you two."


	9. The Story

9.

The Story

Mirror Jackie gathered them into the meeting room again, bringing Mirror Digit along. Once they were all there and comfortably seated, she activated a large screen and opened a transmission. After a momentary pause, Mirror Inez's face appeared on the screen, looking worried.

"Jackie!" Mirror Inez exclaimed, "What's happened? I just got word that Cyberspace is on full alert?"

"The _Alliance_ was attacked." Mirror Jackie explained. "We've lost contact with it. Wicked's has us en route to it's last known position to investigate. We won't really start having any ideas as to what has happened until then."

"Who attacked?" Mirror Inez asked.

"That we do know." Mirror Jackie said. She looked at her feet for a moment, before answering, "Earth forces attacked the _Alliance._"

Mirror Inez frowned, and looked away. In doing so, she noticed who else was in the room.

"Jackie." Mirror Inez suddenly said, "Why am I seeing double?"

Mirror Jackie turned to Matt and Inez, who had been waiting for their turn to speak patiently. "Well, it's a bit of a long story." Jackie said. "In short, they're from a parallel universe."

"You mean an alternate reality?" Mirror Inez asked. "A universe like our own, but different in little varying ways?"

"At least someone in this universe understands it well." Matt muttered under his breath.

Inez elbowed him.

"Amazing!" Mirror Inez was going on to say, looking the two over. "They don't look any different from our own Matt, and myself." she focused her attention on her double for a moment. "I look good." she said, sounding pleased.

Inez blushed.

"How alike is their universe to ours?" Mirror Inez asked next.

"In some ways worse." Mirror Jackie answered, giving Matt and Inez an apologetic look. "In most ways, better."

This made Matt and Inez look up in surprise. Up until this point, they though this universe was far better than their own. So what could be better in their universe than in this one?

"Better, how?" Mirror Inez asked.

Mirror Jackie leaned on the table in front of her. "They don't have a CSRW Alliance of any kind there." She explained. "The Real World is still oblivious to Cyberspace's existence there."

Mirror Inez looked at Matt and Inez. "Consider yourself lucky." she said.

Matt and Inez looked at each other. "I don't understand." Inez said. "How is not having this Cyberspace/Real World Alliance make our universe better? Seems to me that it's too good to be true here."

"That's exactly it." Mirror Inez said. "It _is_ too good to be true. The CSRW Alliance is nowhere near as perfect as it may seem. In fact, it's the only thing standing in the way of total chaos. Think of it as a dam, if you will. One that is just about to break."

"If it hasn't already." Mirror Digit added.

"But I don't get it either." Matt said, standing. "What's gone wrong?"

"Matt, the CSRW Alliance should've never happened when it did." Mirror Jackie explained. "It should've happened years from now. But it didn't, and now we're facing the consequences."

"Why? Why does when it formed matter?" Inez asked.

"Because when it formed, neither the Real World nor Cyberspace was ready to unite like that." Mirror Inez explained. "Motherboard always feared that we simply weren't ready, and had the choice been left up to her, she wouldn't have let things go as they have."

"But she didn't have that choice." Matt guessed.

"No, she didn't." Mirror Jackie agreed. "She couldn't get the evidence to prove it then. Now she's probably got tons, but it's too late."

"But you couldn't have stopped this from happening." Inez said. "I mean, it was a scientist from the Real World that got the ball rolling, right? How could you have stopped him from doing that?"

At this point, Mirror Inez, Digit, and Jackie all bent their heads, avoiding eye contact.

"Inez," Mirror Digit finally began, "That scientist only figured out how to get into the Real World because he got a SKWAK pad."

Inez's eyes widened. "Who's?" she asked, bewildered.

"Mine."

Everyone turned to look at Mirror Inez.


	10. The Tale of a SKWAK Pad

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile, but with the school year starting, my schedule's gone all AWOL. I'll post as often as I can though. :)

10.

The Tale of a SKWAK Pad

"This scientist got your SKWAK pad?" Matt asked, surprised.

Mirror Inez nodded numbly.

"How?" Inez asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I have a pretty good idea." Mirror Inez answered. "Remember that mission we went on to stop Hacker from stealing all of the water off of Termia?"

"Yeah, I remember that." Matt answered. "That was quite a while ago, we haven't been to Termia for awhile now."

"Are you saying that you lost the SKWAK pad during that mission?" Inez inquired.

"No, the mission went fine." Mirror Inez answered. "But when Motherboard called me on my SKWAK pad about it, it was possible that the scientist in question saw it. Possibly even the portal I took as well."

"How?" Matt asked, "Where exactly were you?"

"She was at the science museum." Inez answered for her double. "I know, because that's where I was for that mission. I remember it well. It's one of the few that played out identically in both of our universes. But I didn't see any scientist around when I left there for Cyberspace."

"I saw him, but I didn't think he was in any position to see what was going on." Mirror Inez went on. "Clearly I was wrong, for the next day, the SKWAK pad went missing while I was at school. At first I thought I had merely misplaced it, but it wasn't long afterwards that the scientist popped up in Cyberspace, with my SKWAK pad in tow."

"And that got the ball rolling for the CSRW Alliance." Mirror Jackie finished, speaking for the first time in a few minutes.

"But I still don't get it." Matt admitted. "Why is this alliance so bad?"

"Because, Mattie, neither Cyberspace or the Real World was ready for it." Mirror Digit answered.

"How so?"Matt asked.

"The Real World accepted the goods it got from the trades that began when the alliance formed." Mirror Jackie explained. "But it always thought that Cyberspace was keeping technology and other goods, stuff they thought they _really_ needed, away from them. And a wall began to form because of it. It's only now that the Real World has done anything so drastic about it."

"But it's just not the Real World that has that problem." Mirror Inez said. "Cyberspace thought the same thing about the Real World, in addition to the Real World being a kind of pest, using the alliance only for their own good and their own interests. Cyberspace believes that the Real World is only in this alliance so that they can shave a few years off their technological evolution, then leave it all behind the next chance they get. Or worse, do exactly the opposite. Stay in the alliance and reenforce their ties in the alliance until they basically rule all of known Cyberspace. The Real World's actions today will only support that theory."

"But how do you know that's really the reasons the Real World attacked the _Alliance?_" Matt asked.

"Because, they've been threatening to do for weeks now." Mirror Digit said. "Cyberspace just never took them seriously."

Matt and Inez glanced at each other.

"Yes, it's more serious than you thought." Mirror Inez continued. "We've known this was going to happen for over a year now. It was just a matter of when."

"And you didn't do anything to stop it?" Inez asked, bewildered.

"Oh, _we've_ tried, but both sides refused to hear anything about it." Mirror Jackie answered. "Nobody wanted to sit down and work out the problems."

"In short, there was no avoiding it." Mirror Inez stated. "It was destined to end this way."

"You guys were lucky." Mirror Digit piped up. "Nothing like that has happened in your universe, and as a result, you've been able to avoid the terror that is about to begin here."

"And keep it that way." Mirror Inez added. "Keep the existence of Cyberspace and anything connected to it secret. For your own good."

Suddenly, a speaker in the ceiling above them clicked on. "Digit, you are needed at your station. Jackie, Mirror Matt and Inez, report to the bridge."

"We gotta go." Mirror Jackie told Mirror Inez. "I'll keep you posted."

She cut off the transmission, and then they all left for the bridge. All seemed to be in order there. Mirror Jackie, Matt, and Inez, all stopped behind Mirror Wicked's chair. Mirror Digit slipped past them and sat down at his station.

"What's going on, Wicked?" Mirror Jackie asked.

Mirror Wicked did not answer, but slowly pivoted her chair around so that she faced them now. her face was grim, and in her hand she held some kind of pistol, which she pointed right at Mirror Jackie. Two other cyborgs appeared with their own pistols, which they trained on Matt and Inez.

They were surrounded.


	11. Shattered Mirrors

11.

Shattered Mirrors

"Wicked, what's going on?" Mirror Jackie asked hesitantly, nervously eyeing the guns pointed at her, Matt and Inez.

Mirror Wicked stood. "By order of the CSRW Alliance, you are under arrest." she explained. "Resist, and we will open fire."

"Under arrest?" Matt asked, "What in the world for?"

Inez suddenly noticed, too late, that the entire crew compliment on the bridge were cyborgs. "It's because of the uprising, isn't it?" she asked. "You're locking up all the humans because you're afraid they might all rally together."

"No mights." Mirror Wicked said. "We're sure of it. A coup was already attempted on this ship by the human compliment of my crew only moments ago. Any of them could be against us, so I have to take precautions to make sure. Jackie should understand that."

Mirror Jackie bowed her head, nodding reluctantly.

"But why us?" Matt asked. "We're not even _from_ this universe."

"True, but I have no way of knowing what your intentions are." Mirror Wicked pointed out. "For all I know, you two could be here for the sole purpose of helping aiding the human uprising. And even if you're not, you may decide to side with them. I must take action to prevent any further harm to break out."

"This is crazy!" Mirror Jackie said. "On who's order are you acting upon?"

"Motherboard's." Mirror Wicked answered, then turned back around in her chair. "Take them to the brig." she told the cyborg guard surrounding them. "If any of them resist, don't hesitate to open fire."

The cyborgs motioned for the three humans to start heading out the door. Matt and Inez, not knowing what else they could do, obeyed. Mirror Jackie looked like she was willing to resist, but eventually followed, with a dark glare on her face.

Moments later, they were in the brig, all three trying to find a way out of this mess.

"She's lying." Mirror Jackie was muttering while she paced. "Mother B wouldn't authorize something like this, not on us. Wicked's acting without consent."

"True as that may be, it doesn't help us get out of here." Inez pointed out. "Wicked's in charge of the ship, there's no one who can override her without removing her from that position."

"Obviously, me and Inez need to get back into our universe." Matt stated. "There's nothing we can do here but further endanger ourselves."

"He's right, but it will not be easy." Mirror Jackie agreed.

"So we need to escape," Inez began, counting out their to-do list on her fingers, "get a portal going, and..."

"No go on the portal, guys." Mirror Jackie said, still pacing. "Procedure dictates that in the midst of a terrorist attack, that all portals are to be locked down, and not be used, to prevent the terrorist threat from spreading or escaping. That cuts off our plan for you guys to get out of here until the uprising is over."

"And if we wait until then, it'll be too late." Inez said.

"Great." Matt bemoaned, pressing his head against the cell's wall. "We're back to square one."

"Maybe not." Mirror Jackie said. "We could try recreating the method you guys used to get here in the first place."

"You mean by collapsing cyberbreech." Inez said. "The incredibly dangerous way."

"Do we have any other choices?" Mirror Jackie asked, sarcastically. "If so, I'd like to hear them."

Matt and Inez remained silent.

"Okay, then, that settles it." Mirror Jackie said.

"But where will we get a cyberbreech we can collapse?" Inez asked.

"The _Cyantis _has a weapon that will create a cyberbreech if programmed right." Mirror Jackie explained. "That'll be tough to pull off. Not to mention safely getting you two to a ship to escape in and a Space Fabricator."

"And escaping." Matt added.

"No, we've got that covered." Mirror Jackie said, absentmindedly.

"We do?" Inez asked.

At that moment, the cell door slid open.

Matt stood up in surprise. "Well, can't say I can complain." he remarked, and they all slipped out into the hallway beyond.

"But how?" Inez asked, as they stopped at a corner while Mirror Jackie checked to make sure the coast was clear.

"Digit." Mirror Jackie answered. "He caught my eye while we were being escorted out. That's why I hung back for a moment. He planned on hacking into the cell's controls from his panel. Very risky, because his panel co-works with other panels in the bridge. It would be easy for other people to see him doing it."

They continued on until Mirror Jackie stopped them at a supply closet. Opening it, Jackie pulled out a pistol for each of them, two SKWAK pads, and a Space Fabricator.

"This was the easy part." Mirror Jackie explained. "The hard part will be getting the cyberbreech opened. Worse still, is that Wicked's bound to catch on very soon." she handed Matt and Inez each a pistol, one of the SKWAK pads, and the Space Fabricator. "We need to spilt up if we're going to pull this off." she said. "Head for the hanger bay. I'll need you guys to be ready at a moment's notice. Keep in touch with the SKWAK pad. I'll take care of the cyberbreech."

Then with a wave, Mirror Jackie left. Matt and Inez did not hesitate, and quickly ran off for the hanger bay, following the signs on the walls. They hadn't gotten far when klaxons started going off all over the ship.

"Wicked." Inez guessed. "She's found out we've escaped."

"We're going to run into armed cyborgs soon, aren't we?" Matt asked.

"Most definitely." Inez answered. "But I think I can reduce our chances of that by taking this shortcut here."

They turned around a corner in a hallway, only to run back out when they came face to face with a large group of armed cyborgs.

"Or not." Inez remarked, as they ran onward, avoiding laser fire.

The SWKAK pad beeped.

"I'm in position, where are you guys?" Mirror Jackie asked.

"We're almost there, hang on." Inez reported, turning another corner.

They reached a set of doors that opened upon their approach. Beyond them was the hanger bay, seemingly empty. As the doors closed behind them as they raced in, Matt pulled out his pistol and fired at the door's sensors, hoping that would hold up any pursuers.

"We're in the hanger bay." Inez said into the SKWAK pad.

"Okay, find a cybercoop and get in it, be ready to launch at a moment's notice. Hopefully Digit can get the hanger bay doors open." Mirror Jackie said. "I'll start getting the cyberbreech ready, I'll tell you-"

"INEZ, LOOK OUT!" Matt suddenly yelled, slamming into Inez, knocking them down onto the floor as laser fire from a cyborg guard impacted the wall behind them.

Matt ducked behind a nearby ship, and returned fire. The cyborg ducked behind a beam, then began firing again.

"Be ready, I'm going to open a breech soon." Mirror Jackie stated.

"Matt, we need to get over there." Inez said, pointing at a cybercoop nearby.

"Go, I'll cover you." Matt ordered.

Inez obeyed, ducking down and racing for the coop, as Matt kept the guard busy by unleashing a large amount of fire in his direction. Once she was safely behind the wheel of the cybercoop, Matt made a break for the door on the other side of the two-seated craft. The cyborg fired at Matt, and a bolt of laser fire nailed Matt's arm, the force of the impact knocking him over, crashing to the ground. He watched in dismay as he saw his pistol skid out of reach.

A bolt struck near where he lay, and, ignoring his pain, rolled behind the cybercoop, safe from getting hit a agin, and crawled into the coop.

"I'm firing now, get ready." he heard Mirror Jackie tell Inez.

Something elsewhere on the ship shuddered, and more klaxons went off.

"Now! Go now!" Mirror Jackie was shouting.

Inez handed the SKWAK pad to Matt, then floored the gas pedal. While receiving damage from the cyborg guard attempts to shoot them down, the cybercoop shot forward, narrowly missing various other craft parked in the room, zooming towards the closed hanger bay doors. Closer and closer they got, until it was clear that they were not going to open in time for them to leave.

With Matt shouting to turn, Inez swung the steering wheel around and the cybercoop turned away at the last second, skimming along the walls of the circular room. The coop shook with a weapons impact from the cyborg guard, still trying to shoot at them, as Matt switched on the SKWAK pad again.

"The hanger bay doors haven't opened yet!" he told Mirror Jackie urgently.

"Okay, get ready to try it again, I'll see if I can open them!" Mirror Jackie reported, working with an unseen control panel in front of her.

But then the whole view the SKWAK pad gave Matt jerked violently, causing him to lose sight of what was going on at Jackie's side for several moments, until Mirror Jackie's SKWAK pad hit the tile floor at an angle. In one corner of the screen, Mirror Jackie's feet could be seen lying limp on the ground, while on the opposite side of the screen, a cyborg with a smoking laser pistol could be seen. The cyborg spotted the SKWAK pad and fired another shot at it, causing the transmission to end in a sudden burst of static.

Inez, focusing on her driving, swung the cybercoop around at breakneck speeds and charged the hanger bay doors once more. Halfway towards them, just as they both thought the doors weren't going to open in time, the doors unsealed and slowly began to slid open, at a very slow rate. It was unclear if they were going to be open wide enough for them to exit through.

"Tight squeeze!" Inez exclaimed, tilting the cybercoop onto it's side.

With a sudden jerk, a loud scraping noise, and a cracking sound of glass, they cleared the doors, zooming along underneath the _Cyantis _in open cyberspace. Directly ahead of them was a small cyberbreech, which Inez shifted her course to enter.

"Get ready with the Space Fabricator, Matt!" Inez yelled.

Favoring his bad arm, Matt threw aside the useless SKWAK pad and opened the cybercoop's sunroof, sticking his head out of it, poised to throw the Space Fabricator out over his head as soon as they crossed the event horizon on the cyberbreech. A flashing light on the cybercoop's console told him that the _Cyantis_ was bringing weapons to bear on them, alerting him to how close they were going to cut it.

But then, utter chaos broke out.

Arriving from all angles were several smaller cybercraft and the missingCSRW-1 _Alliance_, all of which opened fire upon the _Cyantis._ Caught by surprise, the _Cyantis_ took several heavy hits before returning fire on the opposing ships. In the chaos of the battle, everyone forgot about the little cybercoop entering a cyberbreech.

With a violent jerk, they crossed the event horizon, and Matt felt the now familiar pull from all angles that the cyberbreech created. Losing total control, the cybercraft veered onto it's side as it was pulled towards the center of the breech. Matt pushed his arms with all his strength, and threw the Space Fabricator as far as he could, watching it drift out a fair ways away.

Then a shadow fell over the cybercoop. Matt looked up and saw a large craft, whether it was the hijacked _Alliance _or the _Cyantis,_ he could not tell from this distance. It fired two missile-like objects at them, and they sped towards them quite quickly. But somewhere between the missiles and the cybercoop, the Space Fabricator activated, blasting a brilliant yellow glow over everything, followed by a large shockwave, and everything went dark.


	12. Dark Reflections

Last Chapter!

12.

Dark Reflections

Inez was first to regain consciousness. Wincing at the dull ache in her head, she sat up and looked around. The cybercoop was very damaged, but had faired better this time around. Matt lay sprawled in his seat, still unconscious, the wound on his arm bleeding freely and was beginning to sport a large purple bump on his forehead. Outside the coop was nothing but empty cyberspace. Both pistols and the SKWAK pad they had gotten in the other universe were gone, lost in transit, no doubt.

It was like it never happened.

Inez weakly leaned forward and checked the coop's power gage. It had very little left, and what there was left remaining was slowly being leaked out somehow. She wasn't interested in the power leak though. All that mattered was that there was enough power for the radio to work properly. Slowly, Inez switched it on and tuned in to the right channel.

"...there?" Jackie's voice suddenly came to Inez's ears. "Digit, I'm starting to lose hope. What if...?"

Jackie trailed off, not needing to finish the question. And she needed not worry, either.

"Jackie!" Inez exclaimed into the coop's radio transmitter. "Boy, does your voice sound good to my ears!"

"Inez!" Jackie was heard exclaiming in joy. "Thank heavens! We were starting to fear the worse."

"No chance of that." Inez said, then added mystically, "Remember, in Cyberspace, anything is possible."

"Huh?" Jackie questioned.

"I'll explain later." Inez promised. "Right now, we need a little help. Me and Matt are okay, but the coop's totaled, engines powerless, or soon will be, and we're just drifting aimlessly." She leaned over and checked another gage. "We're about two-hundred cybermeters from cybersite Sensible Flats."

"Sensible Flats?" Digit's voice now came on. "How did you guys get all the way over there?"

"Like I said, I'll explain later." Inez promised. "I can't maintain this transmission forever at the rate the coop's losing power."

"Okay, Digit's on his way to pick you guys up." Jackie said, taking the conversation over. "But seriously, where have you guys been? We haven't heard anything from you guys for hours now! Hacker's already promised to return and defeat us next time twice already by cybermail."

Inez pondered Jackie's question for a moment, deciding how to best respond. "Let's just say we've been seeing things as they could've been." she saw Matt sit up out of the corner of her eye and knew he had regained consciousness and was listening. "And the consequences thereof."

Jackie was silent for a moment, no doubt puzzled by the serious tone Inez had taken. "What are you saying?" she asked.

"Like I said, Jackie, anything's possible." Inez repeated. "Listen, the coop's running out of power to maintain the transmission, we're going to have to go out of contact for a little while."

"Okay, don't worry, Digit's...on his...Mother B...portal...cut...be...shortly..." Jackie's voice faded away in nothing. There was no static, or any other kind of radio noise. The radio simply fell silent.

Inez stared at it, thoughts and memories of the past day tangling up with each other.

Matt broke the silence. "Feel's kind of weird, doesn't it?" he asked.

"To know that somewhere out there, there's a whole other universe fighting a war?" Inez asked. "One that could've been avoided? Yes, it does. It feels like we just abandoned them."

"Maybe so." Matt said, his breathing ragged as he shifted positions, clamping one hand on his wounded arm. "But there isn't really anything we could've done for them."

"Except one thing." Inez said.

"What?"

"To follow their advice." Inez stated. "No, their pleas. Make sure that the same thing does _not_ happen in this universe. No matter how tempting it might be, how perfect it might seem, and how intriguing it might seem, we saw first hand that present day Cyberspace and the Real World just aren't ready. Eventually, it would all end in anarchy."

"Short term gain, long term loss." Matt summed up grimly. "A fatal long term loss."

As the cybercoop drifted aimlessly through Cyberspace as they waited for Digit to retrieve them, the two thought about the disastrous outcomes of the CSRW Alliance, wondering how it would eventually all end for them in that alternate reality, thinking about all that universe would lose, if not more...

* * *

Okay, so a bit of a gloomy ending, but that was really the whole point of the story. Leave the reader gloomy and wondering.

My next Cyberchase fanfic that I have in the works (entitled "Mishap") will be a lot more cheery and care-free, and hopefully will be up later today, so be on the look out for it. ;)


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